An Officer of Civilization

by Nurit Buchweitz

  The analogy between the scenes of wife and mother also reflects the state of relationships which provide fertile ground for the creation of abjection, in a time when meaningful, long-term relationships and intimacy are exchanged for temporary, convenient, and immediate satisfaction. People are increasingly concluding that it is futile to continue in a relationship if they are unable to obtain instant satisfaction, especially if they can achieve this more intensely elsewhere. In this way the autobiographical topos presents the characters as victims of trauma, unable to open up to a continuous, warm and steady relationship. Thus Bruno is incapable of appreciating his wife who, after consenting to marry him, devotes herself to fostering their relationship. While in Houellebecq’s work the gaze is associated with abjection,23 this abjection, as an intense experience, must originate in a direct trigger, not merely conceptualization; a trigger supplied by the autobiographical topos. The numerous situations of auto-aversion are indicative of the challenge to the subject’s self-respect, the reflection of a quirky upbringing that eventually causes him to sink into the quagmire of abjection. The perennial staple of male abjection is the autobiographical event which serves as an aesthetic strategy as well as an invitation to melodramatic identification. It purports an exchange of significance stemming from the dialogue between past events and their emotional value. ← 56 | 57 →

  Another derivation of the autobiographical topos is the documentation, in all of Houellebecq’s novels, of various instances of free sex as part of the protagonists’ lives: intimate garments used for exhibitionist stimulation; pseudo-oriental social circles enabling free sex; gurus of free sex under the guise of meditation and self-awareness; fetish and swinging clubs. Gadi Taub has suggested that the sexual revolution of the sixties was not an anti-bourgeois revolution but, in fact, just the opposite: it was ‘super-bourgeois’24 and represented a new form of hedonism. That which was once considered morally unacceptable underwent a process of legitimization, now wrapped in new packaging for mass consumption, as Taub frames it: “kinkiness went through the Fordist revolution”25. Thus Houellebecq suggests that the inaugural event of abandoning a child basically stems from pure hedonism, with the duplication and inversion of the move into devout libertine sexual activity. The immoderate insistence on sexual acts is once more a referral to parents’ betrayal, through the excessive continuation of their spirit and teachings.

  Romantic Relationships

  In his portrayal of romantic relationships,26 Houellebecq juxtaposes two perceptions of love that are mutually exclusive. One views love as a sentimental entity leading to a sublime, transcending experience of merging with the other, while the other views love as a sober, secular existence, a means to obtain meaningful contact with the other whilst maintaining the independence of the self. The first is eternal, the second ephemeral. When ← 57 | 58 → yoked together, one may expect the fairytale happy-ever-after, yet in reality romantic relationships are characterized by instability, temporality, utilitarianism, and the avoidance of long-term commitment, tending to serve as a means for immediate satisfaction.27 Moreover, relationships in Houellebecq’s novels are grasped almost as consumer merchandise: they promise on the spot satisfaction, and may be returned or exchanged for an improved model if the customer is not completely satisfied, as Bruno replaces Anne with Christiane and Daniel1 leaves Isabelle for Esther. Yet human beings are involved in relationships, unlike in transactions, and relationship satisfaction can only be achieved if stability, confidence, reliability, and faithfulness are acquired. Relationships demand devotion, care, nurturing as well as self-sacrifice at times, but most of all uncompromising and unconditional commitment.28 Without the last they can only offer a temporary illusion of union, which leaves behind only alienation as it fades. Even though this is always the case in Houellebecq’s works, his heroes never cease to aspire to an everlasting love. The juxtaposition of these two planes creates a sense of loss of direction typical of Houellebecq’s poetics which is also accurate and with which the reader identifies.29 On the one hand there can be overwhelming loves and emotional attachment; on the other hand are short-lived relationships that evidently rely on pure physicality. The value of freedom, the free market and choice, along with changes in the nature and value of emotions, all have a tremendous impact on relationships in Houellebecq’s novels and freedom is a major factor in the failure of all the relationships he depicts. This is not in the least unexpected in intradiegetic terms, since it is indicated by the autobiographical topos. The phantom of uncertainty hovers above Houellebecq’s relationships. Essentially, couplehood and freedom are complete opposites:30 intimacy in a partnership is the urge for security, while freedom is the urge for adventure that resists borders and limitations; partnership is being tied to another and needing the other, while freedom is relieving oneself of commitment and involves cultivating feelings of indifference toward the other. Freedom means turning away from the possibility of affection in exchange ← 58 | 59 → for pleasure, ecstasy and perpetual motion. This distinction is clearly connected to the autobiographical topos and can be perceived as its outcome.

  The double-faceted sensibility of couplehood is unveiled by a deeper look at the relationship between Michel and Valérie in Platform, the epitome of love relations in the entirety of Houellebecq’s Romanesque writing. Michel falls in love with Valérie during a guided tour to Thailand, however even before doing so he sketches her as following “with a sort of canine docility” (p. 30) [«avec une attitude de soumission canine» (Plateforme, p. 46)]. In comparison to other women in the group, he identifies something different in her, something that suits his taste – in his opinion she has the aptitude of a Thai prostitute: “Babette and Léa could never have been Thai prostitutes, I thought, they weren’t worthy of it. Valérie, maybe; that girl had something, she managed to be both maternal and a bit of a slut.” (p. 36) [«Babette et Léa, pensais-je, n’auraient pas été capables d’être des prostituées thaïes; elles n’en étaient pas dignes. Valérie, peut-être; il y avait quelque chose chez cette fille, à la fois un peu mère de famille et un peu salope» (Plateforme, p. 54)]. He also notices her mouth, which is “pretty hot, just ready to swallow the spunk of a true friend” (p. 32) [«une bouche bien chaude, prompte à avaler le sperme d’un ami véritable.» (Plateforme, p. 49)]. At this point Michel begins to become attracted to Valérie;31 neither one holds back and on the first date they engage in intimate contact. He later relates to their lovemaking as a moment for which he would be willing to die. Michel is amazed that Valérie does not disappoint him as a lover and proceeds to fall in love with her. The disparity between the sublime and the trivial is evident here. Whereas the protagonist is elevated to the point of emerging from himself towards an ecstatic existence that exceeds him, bringing him almost to tears, in fact the love that develops between him and Valérie is based on his comfortable sexual experience with the woman, which for him serves as a source of liberation and personal pleasure. Additionally, even if this love enables him to experience a deep encounter with a meaningful other who validates his being, the relationship fails to take the next step towards the sublime; since self-validation merely means that the emotional investment is rewarding and consequently worthwhile. ← 59 | 60 →

  Just as sexuality occupies a major role in the marriage market today,32 the joys of this relationship are mainly sexual, reflecting the contemporary imperative that “to be ‘sexually attracted’ to someone would become a condition sine qua non of romantic partnership”.33According to David M. Halperin,

  the effect of sexual liberation was not, or was not only – to free us to express our sexuality, but rather to require us to express – freely, of course, our sexuality […]. Sexual liberation may have liberated our sexuality but it has not liberated us from our sexuality. If anything, it has enslaved us more profoundly to it.34

  Yet sexual and emotional freedom generate their own forms of suffering; the “decline of erotic value” (Possibility, p. 17) [«la décroissance de leur
valeur érotique» (Possibilité, p. 24)] is a major factor in the termination of relationships in Houellebecq’s works. Although the end of a relationship may be instigated by either partner, in both these cases it is a result of the decline of feminine erotic value.35 Partnerships quickly devolve into detachment once Isabelle or Christiane acknowledge their aging body and conclude that they are unworthy of the partnership.

  In the following conversation between Michel and Valérie, at the beginning of their bond, the center of attention for both interlocutors slides quickly from professional to sexual:

  ‘You must be pretty well paid.’

  ‘Forty thousand francs a month. Well, it’s calculated in euros now. A bit more than six thousand euros.’ ← 60 | 61 →

  I looked at Valérie surprised. ‘I wasn’t expecting that,’ I said.

  ‘That’s because you’ve never seen me in a suit.’

  ‘You have a suit?’

  ‘There’s not much point, I do almost all my work by phone. But if I need to, yes, I can wear a suit. I even have a pair of garters. We can try them out sometime, if you like.’ (Platform, p. 102)

  [«‘Tu dois être bien payée.’

  – Quarante mille francs par mois. Enfin, maintenant, il faut compter en euros. Un peu plus de six mille euros.

  Je regardai Valérie avec surprise. ‘Je ne m’attendais pas à ça… dis-je.’

  – C’est parce que tu ne m’as jamais vue en tailleur.

  – Tu as un tailleur?

  – Ça ne sert pas à grand-chose, je travaille presque uniquement par téléphone. Mais s’il le faut, oui, je peux memettre en tailleur. J’ai même des porte-jarretelles. On essaiera une fois, si tu veux.» (Plateforme, p. 139)]

  The shift in conversation is triggered by mention of Valérie’s business suit, which is transformed from a marker of vocation and career into a seductive garment. Valérie, for her part, provides Michel with a perfect picture: she offers him a sexual and sexy personality, pounces on him the moment that he arrives at her doorstep, pleasures him sexually, cooks for him, and then returns to her own concerns. The impression that a tad of exploitation hovers over their relationship is a misunderstanding, since “the triumph of love and sexual freedom marked the penetration of economics into the machine of desire. One of the main transformations of sexual relationships in modernity consists in the tight intertwinement of desire with economics and with the question of value and one’s worth.”36 This sociological elucidation coincides with the theory proposed in Whatever, “Sexuality is a system of social hierarchy” (Whatever, p. 92; emphasis in the original) [«La sexualité est un système de hiérarchie sociale» (Extension, p. 93; emphasis in the original)], and validated by the romantic partnerships that Houellebecq portrays. Illouz argues that our romantic lives have fallen victim to capitalist expansion, causing us to select our romantic partners the way we choose merchandise: the extent to which it is compatible with our needs. The subject then becomes yet another piece of merchandise among the many available in the market. In her professional life, Valérie tries to match the supply to demand,37 and relies on surveys to direct her ← 61 | 62 → choices. From reading research concerning people’s habits during a recreational parenthesis, she learns that “tacitly, everyone agrees not to talk about serious subjects like work or sex” (Platform, p. 100) [«Tacitement, les participants s’accordent à éviter les sujets sérieux, comme le travail ou le sexe.» (Plateforme, p. 137)]. As is evident from the conversation quoted above, in her private life Valérie applies the findings inversely, directing the conversation to those two serious subjects.

  The scope of emotions expressed in Houellebecq’s depiction of relationships is limited. It follows the pattern of the protagonist admiring Valérie for her conduct, either in work or in sex, sometimes both, followed by an expression of love which acts as a refrain:

  She would come back from work so exhausted that she hadn’t the energy to make love, barely enough energy to suck me off. She would be half-asleep with my penis still in her mouth. I usually penetrated her in the morning when we woke. Her orgasms were more muted, more restrained, as though muffled by a curtain of fatigue; I think I loved her more and more. (Platform, p. 127; emphasis added)

  [«Elle rentrait tellement épuisée de son travail qu’elle n’avait plus la force de faire l’amour, à peine de me sucer; elle s’endormait à moitié, gardait mon sexe dans sa bouche. Quand je la pénétrais c’était en général le matin, auréveil. Ses orgasmes étaient plus doux, plus restreints, comme étouffés au travers d’un rideau de fatigue; je crois que je l’aimais de plus en plus.» (Plateforme, p. 171; emphasis added)]

  The gap between the emotional pitch and exalted declaration of Michel’s statements and the nature of the delineated episode places the relationship in permanent suspicion: does it have a real meaning or is this intense and total emotion no more than a fictional embodiment of a romantic utopia, a case in which the signified has disengaged from the signifier?38 While the love that Michel feels for Valérie is obviously genuine, the description lacks discernment, or at least the enunciation of that deeper something that connects them. The following citation reiterates the structure of Michel’s elevation, adding Valérie’s position:

  Later, thinking about this happy time with Valérie […]. When I brought Valérie to orgasm, when I felt her body quiver under mine, I sometimes had the impression – fleeting but irresistible – of attaining a new level of consciousness, where every evil ← 62 | 63 → had been abolished. In those moments of suspension, almost of motionlessness, when the pleasure in her body mounted, I felt like a god on whom depended tranquility and storms. It was the first, most perfect, most indisputable sort of joy.

  The second joy that Valérie brought me was the extraordinary gentleness, the natural generosity of her nature […] she would tell me sometimes. ‘I feel happy with you, I think you’re the love of my life, and I don’t ask for anything more than that. But that shouldn’t be possible: I ought to ask for more’. (Platform, pp. 116–117; emphasis added)

  [«Plus tard, en repensant à cette période heureuse avec Valérie […]. Lorsque j’amenais Valérie à l’orgasme, que je sentais son corps vibrer sous le mien, j’avais parfois l’impression, fugace mais irrésistible, d’accéder à un niveau de conscience entièrement différent, où tout mal était aboli. Dans ces moments suspendus, pratiquement immobiles, où son corps montait vers le plaisir, je me sentais comme un Dieu, dont dépendaient la sérénité et les orages. Ce fut la première joie – indiscutable, parfaite.

  «La seconde joie que m’apporta Valérie, ce fut l’extraordinaire douceur, la bonté naturelle de son caractère.[…] me disait-elle parfois. Je me sens bien avectoi, je crois que tu es l’homme de ma vie, et au fond je n’en demande pas plus. Mais ce n’est pas possible: il fautque j’en demande plus.» (Plateforme, pp. 157–158; emphasis added)]

  Markedly, Valérie easily and effortlessly provides Michel with the romantic utopia purported by cultural images and concepts of love and couplehood. Less decipherable are Valérie’s attraction to Michel and her motives for becoming involved in the relationship, unless she herself has fallen under the spell of ‘romance’ when she refers to Michel as the love of her life. Simultaneously, she also expresses her anxiety concerning the possibility of disappointment, a reference to the tacit imperative to make the best of what the market has to offer.39

  ‘Come here, to me.’ I sat on the sofa. She snuggled against me, laying her head on my thighs. ‘When I asked you what Thai women have that we don’t, you didn’t really answer […] I can tell that it doesn’t bother you at all that I have a high-powered job and a large salary; I don’t get the impression that that scares you at all. But still you went off to the massage parlors and you didn’t even try to pick me up. That’s what I don’t understand. What have the girls over there got? Do they really make love better than we do?’

  Her voice had changed lightly on these last words; I was rather touched and it took me a minute before I cou
ld answer. ‘Valérie,’ I said at last. ‘I have never met anyone who makes love as well as you; what I’ve felt since last night is almost unbelievable.’ (Platform, pp. 103–104) ← 63 | 64 →

  [«‘Viens près de moi…’ Je m’assis sur le canapé. Elle se pelotonna contre moi, posa sa tête sur mes cuisses. ‘Quand je t’ai demandé ce que les Thaïes avaient de plus que nous, tu ne m’as pas vraiment répondu […] je vois bien que ça ne te dérange pas du tout que j’aie un poste de responsabilité, un salaire élevé; je n’ai pas du tout l’impression que ça te fasse peur. Pourtant tu es quand même allé dans les salons de massage, alors que tu n’as pas essayé de me draguer. C’est ça que je ne comprends pas. Qu’est-ce qu’elles ont, les filles là-bas? Elles font vraiment l’amour mieux que nous?’

  «Sa voix s’était légèrement altérée sur ces dernières paroles; j’étais plutôt ému, je mis une minute avant deparvenir à lui répondre. ‘Valérie, dis-je finalement, je n’ai jamais rencontré personne qui me fasse l’amour aussibien que toi; ce que j’ai ressenti depuis hier soir est presque incroyable.’» (Plateforme, pp. 141–142)]

  In this open, intimate conversation, Valérie and Michel exchange views on Thai women, in whom Valérie exhibits a definite interest. Her voice breaks when she enquires if Thai women make love better than Western ones. But let us not forget: the Thai women referred to here are prostitutes. Valérie, as a marketing executive, tries to comprehend her target audience and the factors of attraction. She is competing in a struggle and trying to understand the advantages of her rivals. Valérie clearly offers a product constructed from the media images of romanticism, sex and lifestyle, a precise market segmentation based on market research. The perfect couple unit that Valérie presents is based on the premise of a woman who has broken through the gender glass ceiling and is successful in the work market, yet as the female half of a couple seeks to devote herself to the desires of her partner as if they were the essence of her existence.